Breathe
by Era Yachi
Summary: Hellboy fought for a long time. As much as he wanted to kill the prince, he couldn’t do that to Abe....an alternate ending to Hellboy II. Spoilers.


This was a challenge. Yeah, he'd challenged this guy for control over the Golden Army and now he was thinking about taking that challenge, and shoving it Prince Nuada's pale, pasty a—

_Whomp. _

Hellboy flew backwards and struck the rough lip of a moving gear, grunting with the pain that was getting harder and harder to ignore. He was getting the crap kicked out of him by a toothpick with pointy ears. Damn. Now all he needed was some old guy in a white robe to come riding in with the sunrise on a white horse—

_Clang. _

Just before the guy's spear came down, Hellboy rolled to the side and heard the metal slice at the stone gear instead. He leapt up, swinging his right first around at the butterfly man, but it sailed through empty air. Good thing he could see elfboy from the corner of his eye. His opponent tried to spear him from the side, but Hellboy did something Nuada couldn't' do—snaked up his tail and grabbed the spear-wielding wrist of his and gave him a twirl. Nuada flipped over and finally went crashing down.

And stayed for less than a second. The prince was up in barely enough time to blink, and Hellboy again employed that weak little sword he'd been given to deflect one blow after another. He watched the shiny tip of the spear with simmering anger, 'cause he'd already been down that road and he didn't feel like playing Operation again.

He'd fought long battles. This was a hell of a long battle. Sooner or later, someone had to give up or just plain croak, and he was _really_ not interested in losing, either. Why'd Abe have to fall in love with the princess? Hellboy liked her as much as anyone else—she was a nice girl, but her psychotic brother wanted to end the human race, and that just couldn't go happening, now could it?

There was suddenly a break in the fighting, because Hellboy felt something slice his jaw and the prince stepped backwards, holding his spear in front of him. "Your persisting has no point. This should be our fight against them, not one another. Is this a world you want your offspring to be born in? One with no acceptance? No remorse?"

Okay, that he had to give some credit for. C'mon, he'd just found out about being a dad just a few minutes ago. How'd elfboy find out so fast?

Nuada sensed his reaction, though he did not move his spear. "My sister discovered through Abraham and I through her. Did you know you will have twins?"

Hellboy did what he typically would in this situation and lower his sword long enough to look over at Liz. "_Twins_, Liz?"

It was all Nuada needed to lash out again, but Hellboy was easily distracted…not stupid. The red demon plunged downwards and practically felt the blade whisk over her head. Then he drove forward, pushing towards the prince to throw him off balance. Nuada, however, flowed away from him like water around a stone and arced his spear towards him in another seamless moment. It struck Hellboy's stone wrist as it was raised to protect his body. They parted again, after the larger combatant unsuccessfully tried to strike the prince again with the dinky sword.

"Look, pal," Hellboy panted, now physically in the space between the prince and the large cogs, and his own group of people. "I don't want to drag your sister into this mess, but if I gotta nail you down to win this fight, then I got a hammer right here," he went on, clenching his right first tightly, as the sound of grating stone confirmed that quip.

He wanted to, but couldn't best this guy. Those shiny golden warriors had taken the most out of him, and Prince here wasn't breaking a damn sweat. He just couldn't fight and not hurt the guy, for cryin' out loud. Red glanced behind him at Liz, then at Abe…he knew his expression said it all. Blue didn't have to be psychic to read what he had to say. It wasn't looking good for Plan A. He was gonna weigh this, though; if he had to chose between Liz and the rest of humanity and the nice princess girl (and breaking Abe's heart…yeah, he'd hate doing that), then the choice was obvious.

Twins. Prince and princess, brother and sister. Felt each others' pain and everything. His kids were gonna be twins, too. Maybe they'd be kinda the same way.

"Red—" Abe started to say. One of his webbed hands was outstretched, like he wanted to intervene. Krauss clung to his arm to hold him back.

Prince Nuada wasn't generous enough to give Hellboy time to think about it. He came charging straight at the red demon, but as Hellboy braced himself for another clash, the prince drove the tip of his spear into the stone, and used the inertia of his body to do a side-ways jump half-around and half over Hellboy's head. Landing nimbly on his feet behind his target, Nuada delivered a hard kick to the demon's back.

Hellboy stumbled forward, and spun around just in time to lean _way_ back, as the blade of the spear sailed over him, just millimeters from his sawed-off horns. His spine bent painfully too far (damn, would that hurt in the morning) and threatened to throw him on the ground again. But Hellboy was quick. Yeah, okay, not as quick as this guy, but he _was_ quick enough to snatch the shaft of Nuada's spear before it got too far away. He then pulled one that, with the prince still attached, _through the air_ and tossed the elf towards the grinding gears…

Two things happened. One, the spear went free flying over the spinning cogs and bounced a few times around them. It slid down into a narrow gap, and the teeth of the adjoining gears became lodged with its indestructible metal. The massive machine below came to a groaning, shuddering halt.

The second thing that happened was the prince's sudden collision with the largest gear of them all. There was the sound of something crunching, as though part of the elf's body broke under his pale hide. For the first time during the fight, Princess Nuala gasped with her brother's pain and made a faint choking sound as she dropped to her knees.

"Nuala!" Abe sprang forward, breaking Krauss's hold on him. Red watched Blue fly up the steps towards the prince's twin sister with a slight twinge of guilt.

Now they'd have a _really_ long talk when this was over.

Prince Nuada struggled to stand up against the cog where he was half-draped. Injured as he was, there was actually very little he could do besides lurch forward, which he did and staggered towards Hellboy. He only made it halfway before collapsing on his knees with a hiss of agony and the promising glance upwards of seething fury. His breaths came in shallow bursts as he fought against the pain long enough to utter a few words.

"You must kill me, for I will stop at nothing. Kill me."

"Sorry, your Royal Highness," Hellboy replied, as though he were turning down an offer to see a football game. He strolled over to where the prince was hunched over, teeth bared and grimacing with painful defeat. Hellboy leaned in to speak just above Nuada. "I made a promise to a good friend of mine. I ain't gonna kill you. I'm gonna somebody else deal with you. 'Cause I've gotta family to go raise."

Drawing back with the cockiest of smirks, the time already seemed to slow down around Hellboy as he looked around. Abe left Nuala's side, after her many reassurances that she was fine and slowly descended the steps towards him. Red noticed the way he was moving, like he was still expecting something bad to happen. Who knew? Maybe something bad was. He still gripped that pansy little sword Nuada had given him. Aw, maybe it wasn't so bad…it was kinda cute, actually. Nice and sharp, too. Father would have loved this.

"Ain't that right, Liz?" said Hellboy, turning around to face the mother of his unborn kids. Damn, she looked beautiful.

Since time was moving so slowly, and Hellboy'd just assumed Abe was there to take the crown back from Nuada, it never crossed his mind that showing his back to a defeated enemy was a bad idea. Hellboy didn't really like to think; beating the crap out of elf-boy without killing anyone was good enough for him. He wished he'd figured it out, somehow made himself turn back at that moment and stop it all from happening.

But see, that was the funny thing about times like this. When it happens, you're pretty much stuck in the middle and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. Nobody gets to think it through ahead of time. It's all about reacting to something the way you always do, and then you're forced to deal with what happens after that. No second chances. No time outs. Bam, bam, bam. Then it's time for the ice-cold feeling in the chest and a lifetime of pain.

Abe had placed his hand on Nuala's head, intending to comfort her through their psychic connection. He had jerked back. Just a flash. Enough to compel him down the steps, too bewildered to speak in the few seconds it took for Red to take his eyes off of Nuada.

The prince grimaced—grinned, rather—while he carefully drew the dagger from its concealed sheath. The perfect reflection on its curved blade was no less than that of his spear. Nuada rose behind Hellboy's turned back and lurched, readying to raise and plunge his dagger into deep red flesh…

"_Red_!" Liz screamed.

"Red, _no!_"

Hellboy was quick. He was not _as_ quick, but quick enough. He tightened his grip and whirled around, with one, sweeping thrust of the sword to defend himself against the attack.

Nuada's perfect blade stabbed the air. The prince made a breathless noise of surprise and dropped to his knees a second time.

But Hellboy couldn't see that and, didn't see anything but the ocean. Chaos and depthless, rocking waves. _Abe_. The realization was like a rock sinking through a deep, thick pool of water. Only it hadn't reached the bottom yet, and when it did, the tiny stirrings of sand and the gentle _thump_ of its landing would cause an earthquake.

The sword, meant for Nuada, punctured Abraham's abdomen and the glistening blade protruded out behind. The tip, releasing several drops of dark, cerulean blood, was inches away from the prince himself.

_Thump_.

The rock hit the bottom.

"Oh, God, Abe." He let go of the hilt. As if he still couldn't trust his eyes.

Abe coughed as the impact and pain came at once. His gills flared. The space he occupied between Prince Nuada and the now tremulous Hellboy seemed much larger than it had before he'd thrown himself there. For a moment, he blinked at Red's face, but that was all he managed before he collapsed.

But Hellboy caught him, and because all sound had the decency to stop, he didn't hear Liz or Nuala in the background. Or notice that Liz was right beside him. Abe slowly went down with a disturbing gracefulness that made it feel a little more real.

To Nuada's minor credit, he was silent. He merely watched. He might have felt some of his sister's shock, horror and sorrow. He might have realized that in a way, he had won.

Hellboy was back at the BPRD headquarters, crushing a can of beer in one hand and laughing between Barry Manilow lyrics. While crooning "_I can't smile without you,_" and "_I can't laugh and I can't sing,_" he glanced over at the drunken expression of his best friend and wondering why this didn't happen that often.

Someone pulled the sword out; either he or Liz did it, except it didn't matter. The glassy surface of Abe's eyes reflected them both as the wound seeped against the pressure of Liz's hands. Hellboy supported him with his right arm, and now the world was keeping track of time at full speed.

"I didn't—you shouldn't have been—" The result when Hellboy tried to say six things at once. "Abe, what the hell are you doin'?"

Those eyes blinked again, and Abe placed a flat palm on Hellboy's arm. "You didn't…actually…promise, Red," he said matter-of-factly, and the breathing apparatus around his neck bubbled violently.

He'd been trying to stop one blade or another. Maybe both. The lack of a shocked expression lining Abe's features suggested that he'd known Hellboy was going to kill Nuada. And vice versa.

"It'll be okay, Abe. You'll be fine," Liz promised, betraying the tears that splashed onto the backs of her hands. No one tried to point out that she was reassuring herself. People tended to lie to themselves at these times.

"Abe…" That was all Hellboy could say, but for maybe the third time in his life, his voice was choked with emotion.

"Whatever happens…" came the labored reply. Abe's hand gently slipped off of the larger red arm and rested on the floor. "Do not…blame…"

His chest hitched slightly, but with that and the stillness that followed after, Abraham Sapien died.

Liz reacted after a few shocked moments by leaning over and draping her arms over his torso, sobbing silently. This was after Hellboy silently laid him down, and stood up as somberly as a priest at a funeral. If there was any anger to spend, it was lodged in the block of ice that was in his chest.

The red-skinned demon walked past them and stood above Nuada with his head bowed. The prince locked onto his gaze, fully expecting a swift death of retribution.

Instead, the weight of the golden crown disappeared. Hellboy let it dangled from his hand, its value and objectivity diminished. It was just the mission. He didn't really care about winning. He was too numb to care.

The Golden Army was defeated. Nuala got to live and so did her brother, and hell, everyone went home with a piece of their soul intact.

Except Hellboy. He had Barry Manilow to thank for that.


End file.
